April’s visiting artist, Ray Chiulli, or perhaps better known as @ratchili, has one of the most unique displays of work we’ve yet hosted up at The Gallery. On the wall, these slightly warped scenes with illustrated characters seem static, but scan the QR code next to each one and experience them come to life in a totally different and delightful way.

Ray’s project entitled Creature County was funded by a GVCA Independent Artist Grant. The grant money helped him purchase a 360° panoramic camera and a new digital illustration setup, which he then used to create these 8 public interactive works of art around Livingston County.

Mike Wedge arrived at The Gallery, ready to chat about his new collection of oil paintings. I opened up the voice memo app on my phone and hit record while we talked. The resulting transcript of the conversation is hilariously inaccurate, as it was recorded from my pocket, muffling words like “cheetah” into “cheese” and such, but I’m going to try my best to reform its contents into little stories about each painting. Here goes.